Woman who blew her £200,000 inheritance on caring for horses loses her appeal against her conviction for animal cruelty

Lisa Vaughan was ordered to pay out £5,500 despite being told she had spent all of her inheritance.

A woman who blew her £200,000 inheritance on caring for horses has lost an appeal against a conviction for cruelty.

Lisa Vaughan, 42, was found guilty by magistrates but appealed their decision at Cardiff Crown Court saying her animals were just old and nearing the end of their days.

Following six days of evidence and legal argument, a judge dismissed one claim against her but upheld an RSPCA view that two elderly thoroughbred mares kept by her had suffered sores or lice and had not received appropriate attention.

The judge, Recorder Wyn Rees, ordered her to pay the £3,500 cost of her original trial and make a £2,000 contribution to her appeal hearing, despite being told she had spent every penny of the money she had inherited from her late mother.

Her barrister Andrew Weller said she inherited £200,000 in 2005 but by 2010 it was gone.

“All of it spent on her passion for horses,” he said.

Vaughan, of Hoel Llanishen Fach, Rhiwbina, Cardiff, owned 13 horses when two chestnut mares, named Mamalama and Arctic River, approaching 30-years-old, came to the attention of RSPCA inspectors.

Prosecuted under the Animal Welfare Act, she denied allegations that she had failed to investigate the cause of their poor condition, causing them unnecessary suffering.

Witnesses from the animal charity said they were emaciated, that one had scabs and lice and hair falling out while the other had severe pressure sores and dermatitis.

“They were given a body condition score of nought,” prosecutor Heath Edwards told the court.

Mr Weller said the horses had been given to her by an ex-partner following her mother’s death.

They were free of charge but came with debts to vets and rent arrears for fields which cost her around £30,000.

Mr Weller said: “After, he took off and she has seen him only once more.

“He was dumping them on her preying on her emotional vulnerability.”

He claimed that three years later, when she had spent much of her money, she took the 13 horses to Ireland hoping to start a business.

He said: “By 2010 her grandfather was arriving in Ireland with £10,000 to bail her out, she was broke and spent some of the money bringing the horses back to Wales where she moved in with her grandparents.”

Following the death of her grandfather, she was said to be the current sole carer for her 88-year-old grandmother.

“Her only income is the £50 a week her grandmother gives her. It is a sorry tale,” he said.

Vaughan was given two years to pay her court costs and had the 10-year ban on keeping animals reduced to seven years and to now apply to horses only.

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